Architecture and design: Thinking outside the pre-fab square

Photo / Supplied

Sustainable design is a term that's often applied to architectural moves that are either Pre-fabs? Dismantling? A Wellington architectural firm are thinking outside the square.

totally unexceptional - orienting houses towards the sun, for example, and maximising natural ventilation - or self-consciously extraordinary - specifying straw bale construction, green roofs, and self-composting toilets.

But between the poles of what, in the second decade of the 21st century, should be commonplace and what is still weird or wonderful, there's plenty of room for innovative design that makes efficient and economical use of resources, that's fit for purpose and not surplus to requirements, and that's resilient enough to endure over time or adapt over the years. Sustainable design, in other words.

Assembly Architects operates in this sustainable territory. The young Wellington-based firm headed by husband and wife Justin and Louise Wright works across a design spectrum that ranges from furniture to commercial buildings, and new houses to marae alterations. Two characteristics in particular distinguish the philosophy of the practice: a pronounced interest in materials and the ways in which they are put together and, eventually, taken apart, and a determination to reconcile the bespoke standards of architecture with the mass production methods of pre-fabrication.

"Our practice didn't get its name by chance," says Justin Wright. "You could say we have a strong predilection to assembly, in both a construction and a process sense. We like to work out the details of how buildings are put together, and we also believe in the importance of assembling the right teams to work on projects."

While some architects might be content to draw up a building and leave the nuts-and-bolts tasks of its construction well alone, Assembly Architects are keen to forge close relationships with fabricators, engineers and builders. The practice boldly goes where architects have learned to fear to tread - into the domain of pre-fabricated construction.

The practice has worked with Matamata-based modular construction specialist, Stanley Group, on several projects, including sophisticated pop-up stores in downtown Auckland and the refurbishment of a number of marae buildings in the central North
Island.

"We're interested in the concept of sufficiency," Wright says. "Pre-fab or modular construction eliminates waste because the design has to incorporate factory-produced elements with standard dimensions. Building this way is also relatively quick and easy - again, it's really a matter of assembly."

At the same time, Wright is keen to note that there is more to architecture than putting things together and more to sustainability than economy and adaptability.

"The most sustainable buildings are those that are going to be around for a long time," he says. "They'll be around for a long time if people like them, and people will like them if they're well designed."

What's 'sustainable' about this building, an addition featuring a marquee that shelters visitors to Wellington Zoo and houses the inevitable corporate functions? For a start, Assembly Architects have re-purposed an existing building - the old Elephant House - and designed a new structure framed with 100 per cent recyclable aluminium and walled with rammed earth.

The materials were locally made, the roofing membrane by a company in Palmerston North and the structural metal elements by a Wellington firm whose core business is manufacturing fire engines. And the Zoo Hub's design allows for - although does not encourage - its eventual deconstruction.

In 2011, with the Rugby World Cup tournament looming,
Assembly Architects and its project partners including Stanley Group received concept sketches from Cheshire Architects and were given 100 days to design and build standalone pop-up stores on a Britomart site. There was no time for on-site measurements or adjustments. All of the modular components had to be ready for instant assembly, no nails required. In fact, says Justin Wright, "Stanley wouldn't allow a hammer on site". The buildings are designed to be unbuilt and relocated when their temporary Britomart occupation is terminated.

Sustainability is not merely a design principle; more importantly, it's a social imperative. Assembly Architects' latest project - one that involves its partners and their children moving to the central North Island hinterland - is a programme to upgrade ablution facilities on a dozen rural
marae. This is a different type of project, Justin Wright notes. Because the buildings are long-term propositions sited on land that will not be alienated, the architects can contemplate energy-saving measures that will pay off over decades, rather than a few years. Once again, a modular construction system, this time based on the standard unit of a 2.4m2 plywood panel, is used to achieve economic results.